“That Coast Guard chap also told us about those oil tankers that were attacked right off this very shore last week,” continued Jimmy.
“I heard the firing!” exclaimed Kitty. “At first I thought it was thunder, but Dad said when he came home that a U-boat had been sunk out here.”
“And the guard saw the whole works,” Ned told them eagerly. “He said the tankers were going down-coast when the sub attacked them. In two minutes he had the Coast Guard Station over his walkie-talkie, and ten minutes later our planes were dropping depth bombs. And boy, they got that sub! I’d have given anything to be down here! Makes me wish I’d gone into the Coast Guard!”
After hearing all this Kitty felt still more uneasy about her experience earlier in the afternoon. Could it be possible that the man Billy had seen on the island was the same who owned that boat hidden in the mangroves? She had noticed no boat herself, but one certainly could have been hidden in the dense shrubbery that overhung the water.
Kitty was relieved when their supper was ready, and the hungry boys had been served. Vera poured the hot coffee, and Sally supplied them with fresh bread from the Bayshore Bakery.
“Makes you feel sort of funny, eating this bread and knowing the Germans have recently eaten bread out of the same kind of wrappers,” said Kitty, giving Brad a significant look as she handed him a high-piled plate.
“Let’s sit over on that palmetto log,” he suggested when she picked up her own plate.
“The Coast Guard Saw It All,” Ned Told Them